Old PM close to perfecting the sound of a younger man? (9)
I believe the answer is:
gladstone
'old pm' is the definition.
'gladstone' can be an answer for 'pm' (Victorian UK prime minister William Gladstone). I'm not sure about the 'old' bit.
'close to perfecting the sound of a younger man?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'close' could be 'on' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'on' is found within the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is present in the answer.
'a' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for gladstone that I've seen before include "Old English P.M. or kind of bag" , "Doctor's bag or old British PM" , "Liberal leader" , "Former English PM or kind of bag" , "5,27 [PRIME MINISTER]" .)